Format Windows 8 It is a simple operation, but the results can be serious if you are not sure what you are going to do. Format the partition in which this operating system is installed means that you will lose all the data and programs you have there, so make backup copies before executing the operation. A good recommendation is that you have an added data partition, which is not the same one in which the operating system is, so that if you have to format the latter, you will not lose your files. At OneHowTo.com we explain how to format Windows 8.
Steps to follow:
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Format with Windows 8 It is an option that you have in the Administrative Tools. To access this alternative, hover over the right side of the screen and type “Control Panel” in the search engine.
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Once you are in the Control Panel, enter the “System and security” section.
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In the new window, at the bottom, you will see the option to format partitions in “Administrative Tools”. You have to click, specifically, on “Create and format hard disk partitions”.
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Now, you have access to see all the partitions of your hard disk from the tools of Windows 8. Placing yourself on a partition and pressing the right button, the options that are accessible will appear. In our case you see that the “Format” is shaded, which means that we cannot use it. This is due to the fact that being the operating system partition we cannot give it a new format from this tool.
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What we have to do to format Windows 8 in this case, it is to get an installation CD and start the process as if we were to install the operating system again, which is what we will really do after formatting. To do this, we turn off the computer and turn it on but booting from the CD. Read this article if you don’t know how to make your computer boot from CD.
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Once the installation CD is the one that takes control of your computer, this is the first screen that will appear in which you must choose the data that interests you. How do you see the process for format Windows 8 it is similar to a normal installation. In our case, we do not make any changes here and we leave the options that appear by default.
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Next, you have to accept the terms in order to continue.
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This is the key step to format Windows 8. You should choose the custom installation option so that you can have access to format the partition.
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On the next screen, choose the partition you want to format and click “Format”.
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The installer will warn you that with this option you will lose all the data that you have in that part of the hard drive, but it is something that you already have to be clear about before starting to format.
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Once you accept, the formatting will be done, in a matter of 1 or 2 seconds. If you click on “Next”, a normal installation of the operating system will begin Windows 8.
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After restarting the computer, a common action during installation, a window will appear in which you must give the computer a name.
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In this step, you must enter your Microsoft account information. This will make it easier for you to recover some settings from your computer, but never data or programs.
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Then you will have a new installation of Windows 8 on a formatted partition.
Next, we will explain how you could format a partition in Windows 8 on which the operating system is not installed. First, you must follow instructions 1, 2 and 3, until you reach the disk manager.
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You place yourself on the partition you want to format, other than the one where the operating system is installed or the first one, which says “Reserved for the system”, and you press the right button and “Format”. Then, you can choose the file system you want the partition to have: NFTS or FAT32. You can also choose other options, such as whether you want a quick format or not.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to format Windows 8, we recommend that you enter our Computers category.
Advice
- If you want to keep your data, make a backup as the formatting supposes the complete loss.